1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a refrigerator having a container for storing goods, and more specifically to a container movably mounted within the refrigerator and constructed so that it automatically opens upon its movement.
2. Description of the Related Art
Contemporary refrigerators have a variety of means for storing the goods placed in the refrigerator. The storing means can vary from open shelves to closed containers. Closed containers are commonly used when it is desired to maintain a higher moisture level in the container than in the general refrigeration compartment, such as a crisper, or when it is desired to maintain the temperature in the container below the temperature of the refrigerator but still above freezing, such as in a chiller container. The crisper container is generally placed near the bottom of the fresh food compartment and comprises a drawer slidably mounted to the underside of a shelf, which forms the top closure for the crisper. The drawer must be manually slid by the user to obtain access to the crisper. Likewise, most chillers are manually operable and comprise a movably mounted drawer whose top or front has a hingedly mounted cover that must be manually operated to open the container to obtain access to its interior. Most chillers are open to a cool air outlet of the refrigeration system to maintain the chiller at a temperature below the temperature of the refrigerator.
A disadvantage of some of the manually operable containers is that the user must manually open the container in addition to manually moving the drawer, resulting in a two-handed operation of the drawer. A two-handed operation of the drawer. A two-handed operation of the container is consider an inconvenience by many users as a free hand is not available to extract the goods from the drawer or the user must perform the opening of the container in two steps with a single hand, reserving the other hand to remove goods from the container.